Thursday, September 29, 2005, 9:59:11 AM, Cotty wrote: C> On 28/9/05, Godfrey DiGiorgi, discombobulated, unleashed:
>>Happily, it's generally good enough. Have backups ready when they get >>to half. Replace when they show empty. What more do you really need? ;-) C> Viable fuel cell technology! With possibility of running in on normal alcoholic beverages, just pour them in, just like me ;-) Getting pure methanol in the middle of rural Asia could be a bit of a problem (especially in Muslim countries), but one can get cheap Vodka almost everywhere in the world... or denaturated alcohol (disinfectant). Now that would be neat ;-) Means one could carry a bottle for fueling both himself and his camera/cellphone! I would buy it in a heartbeat... BTW, Nikon's new batteries have some logic inside as well, which gives even number of shots remaining. From what I have heard, it's pretty accurate. It works this way - in the battery there is a chip which monitors the full capacity of battery during charging, and during discharging, counting all the little electrons. Establishing a known capacity, it then knows that if the battery just gave 1000 mA in the last few hours, it will have exactly 500 mA left +/- something. Of course during ageing of the battery it must be recalibrated every several decacycles. IMHO the best is to allow usage of both AA and proprietary lithiums. Best of the two worlds. Frantisek
